Come and experience a “cob community” in the cloud forests of El Salvador´s highest mountain. This workshop is being hosted by the Clouds of El Pital Eco-Tourism Cooperative. Our cooperative of five rural families from El Salvador has collectively built eight separate cob houses and cabins to host tourists in the beautiful El Trifinio Biosphere on the slopes of El Salvador´s highest mountain. The nearby cloud forest offers a beautiful site to learn about natural building techniques and sustainable living.…

Natural Building Workshop : Apr 26 – May 30 In this Natural Building Workshop we are building an earthship inspired classroom for Christoph & Mario’s permaculture project in southern Italy. See this link for a full and up to date description. From April 26th to May 30th we will start another Natural Building Workshop near Badolato in southern Italy. This workshop will provide you an opportunity to get hands-on experience in Natural Building, all the skills and especially the confidence you need to build a…

This is a 4-part series that covers practice and theory of structural systems (timber framing), insulation (straw bales) and thermal mass wall systems (cob, adobe, wattle and daub). Each intensive lasts 3 days (Friday-Sunday) in May. For maximum learning, you can stay on site for the entire month and get more practice in between workshops. This is an unusual opportunity to learn nearly all aspects of building a hybrid natural home from experienced instructors in a hands-on setting. Fee includes…

Part one in a 4-part series that covers practice and theory of structural systems (timber framing), insulation (straw bales) and thermal mass wall systems (cob, adobe, wattle and daub). This workshop covers ecological forest management and timber selection, pole harvesting and peeling, timber framing fundamentals and design, selecting and caring for tools, timber framing fundamentals including layout, mortise-and-tenon joinery, bent assembly and frame raising. Fee includes all organic meals and on-site camping. For maximum learning, you can stay on site for the…

HOST & LOCATION We will be warmly received by Yosi, Ayelet, Yahara, Kita and Hayden on land in the redwood-forested edge of Santa Cruz, California.  Students can camp on the land or in the Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park a 10-minute drive away.  There is one 3-person tent available and 6-7 more sites.  People will need to be prepared for poison oak/ticks typical in California forests.  Santa Cruz is one of the most beautiful towns in California, centered on the…

Dates: May 11 – May 15, 2020 Location: Jonesborough, Tennessee Sign up here: https://www.thiscobhouse.com/introduction-to-cob-workshop-jonesborough-tennessee/ Come and join us in beautiful eastern Tennessee for our next Introduction to Cob Workshop! We will be constructing a cob house. A perfect project for beginners and experts alike! You will get the knowledge to build cob projects scaling from smaller things, such as cob ovens and benches, up to large projects like homes and buildings. This workshop is a great experience to learn how…

Last year, we introduced this Short Course and it was a great success. You’ll get a full sense of our Fast Cob technique (which allowed 1.5 people to build the 900 sq.ft. house in the photo in just 5 months!), and you’ll get to know how to finish buildings naturally, from base layer to finish layer and even whitewash. Everything we use is completely natural and everything you learn can be done anywhere on the planet. Of course, without prior…

Part two in a 4-part series that covers practice and theory of structural systems (timber framing), insulation (straw bales) and thermal mass wall systems (cob, adobe, wattle and daub). This workshop covers manual cob mixing and building,  best practices for building with straw bales, clay soil analysis and harvesting, foundations, sitework and drainage. Fee includes all organic meals and on-site camping. For maximum learning, you can stay on site for the entire month and get more practice in between workshops. Instructors…

Part three in a 4-part series that covers practice and theory of structural systems (timber framing), insulation (straw bales) and thermal mass wall systems (cob, adobe, wattle and daub). This workshop covers mechanized cob mixing and building, mixing and applying earthen base coat plasters, cob trimming, sculpting and detail work, preparing clay slip and chopped straw, making adobe blocks, installing doors and windows, plumbing and wiring in natural wall systems, and a tour of nearby natural buildings.  Fee includes all organic…

HOST & LOCATION Our California hosts are Barbara and Tara, mother and daughter, who live in Shingletown, where they recently bought a five-acre piece of raw land, completely off-grid, near Mt Lassen National Park. They have a wonderful view of the volcano, plus a year round creek and abundant wild life including deer, turkeys, cougars, bears, bobcats, foxes, etc.   The workshop site is located in Shingletown, a small town in Lassen County, half an hour east of Redding and…

Part four in a 4-part series that covers practice and theory of structural systems (timber framing), insulation (straw bales) and thermal mass wall systems (cob, adobe, wattle and daub). This workshop covers cob mixing and building, cob trimming, sculpting and detail work, building an adobe arch, building wattle-and-daub and clay-wattle walls, thermal properties of natural materials, passive solar design, hybrid natural building design, planning and sequencing your natural building, plastering and finishing options. For maximum learning, you can stay on site…